FERC Chairman: U.S. Should Study the German Renewable Energy Economy

Energy Brief:

“We should be able to learn from them,” said FERC Chairman, Jon Wellinghoff, at the Arizona Solar Summit held in Phoenix today and yesterday. “We haven’t pursued that extensively.”

Germany is considered one of the world leaders in renewable energy. Twenty percent of that country’s electricity comes from renewable sources, primarily wind and solar power. In the United States, just five percent of our electricity comes from those sources.

Wellinghoff told participants at today’s meeting that FERC is looking for ways to expand renewable power.

In the video below Wellinghoff answers this question from the floor: “When we talk about renewable energy, have we looked at Germany? Have we looked at their grid? Have we studied the dynamics of how all this solar, which is about 3% of the total energy in Germany, how that’s working, how it’s not working? Are there any lessons to be learned from the way Germany is managing [renewable energy]? ”